English Language

[gl556tr]

The standards of both general English literacy and English grammar are often poor, at times atrocious.

[bhg481]

For many years there was a club in Reading, with sign-writing across the top announcing that it could be booked for private events, all methods of payment, Credit Cards excepted. I can understand them not going to the expense of having that re-painted (assuming someone pointed out the error) but a computer-printed note is another matter.

[mikey4444]

bhg....I have seen the excepted/accepted mistake many times over the years !

[jno]

NJ, could it be possible that before a sign is put up, nobody knows how many people will read it?

[mikey4444]

jno....the answer is much simpler than that....the person who wrote the sign didn't know the difference between the two words, and that is worrying.

I saw a similar sign, in a garage on the A40, in between Monmouth and Raglan......" All cards excepted"

When I pointed out the mistake to the rather dim chap behind the counter, he still didn't understand the difference !

[Jackdaw33]

I have never understood why accept/except are confused as the pronunciation is so clearly different.

[Tilly2]

I love this.......

'This is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.'

Attributed to Churchill.

[Jackdaw33]

I remember the two 'golden rules':

Never start a sentence with a conjunction.
Never finish a sentence with a preposition.

Both total twaddle.

And don't get me started on 'It is I'. I've had many a row over the years with poorly educated teachers over that one.

[Garaman]

'poorly educated' should really be hyphenated in your post, Jack :)

[gl556tr]

"Eats shoots and leaves" is a classic now - adding commas changes it completely.
I saw [i]Thursday's & Saturday'squote[, which is a remarkable cultural nuance. One remains speechlessly non-plussed, when ]their/therequote[ are mixed up, or even used the occasionally instead of [i]they're].

[Tilly2]

.....and using italics makes it nonsensical. :-)

[gl556tr]

Sorry. What a mess. Here's a new, improved version!

"Eats shoots and leaves" is a classic now - adding commas changes it completely.
I saw [i]Thursday's & Saturday'squote[, which is a remarkable cultural nuance. One remains speechlessly non-plussed, when ]their/therequote[ are mixed up, or even used occasionally instead of [i]they're].

[Tilly2]

Is this an April Fool, GL?

[gl556tr]

T: 'Tis not intended, I assure you. I had wanted to insert italicised text -- and my original text was correctly prepared -- and, as you can see, even the repeat was a mess.
Not at all sure why, as this usually functions properly.
(Pinch, punch! First of the month!)

[Tilly2]

their, there, they're, GL.

[gl556tr]

T: LS = grin.

[Tilly2]

Grin and bare/bear it?

[gl556tr]

T: depends upon whether your bare is mail or femail.

[Arksided]

Hi gl556tr, fun reading this thread but so you know... You can only do Italics once on each post, be careful of other punctuation marks as well when doing them. Do remember this is the new updated site of AB for those that are on Tablets.

[Mamyalynne]

After reading all this, we'll all be on tablets.

[Arksided]

Yep Mamya... little explanation needed. Xx ;-)